Studies on the chromatographic behavior and distribution of sterols from Arabidopis thaliana

Studies were performed on the chromatographic behavior of sterols in thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, argentation chromatography and flash chromatography. The structure of the sterol was found to be influenced by its mobility in the various chromatographic systems tested. For instance, C-4 substitution dramatically affected sterol mobility in TLC whereas, C-24 substitution dramatically affected sterol mobility in GLC and HPLC.

Anatomical parts were separated from the mature plant of Arabidopsis thaliana for sterol analysis The mixture of phytosterols was found to differ in the five plant parts. The sterol composition of A. thaliana was found to operate a typical tracheophytic cydoartenol-sitosterol based pathway. Except for the fruits, carbon fluxed from cycloartenol to predominantly 24-ethyl sterols. In the fruits, a novel 24-desalkyl sterol was found to accumulate in the tissues. Based on GLCMS characterization, the sterol was tentatively identified as cholesta-9(11), 24-dienol.